Armenia was able to reconfirm its readiness for normal relations with Turkey / by Elena Chobanyan

On August 28 Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian attended the inauguration ceremony of the newly-elected president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. The Presidential handover ceremony from former President Abdullah Gul to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which took place in Cankaya Presidential Palace was attended by high-level delegations from several dozen countries. During the reception given after the ceremony in the honour of the heads of delegations, Minister Nalbandian had a short conversation with President Erdogan and handed him over the official invitation of the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan to attend the Remembrance Ceremony, dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide that will take place in Yerevan on April 24, 2015.

“In a demonstration of the depth and determination of Armenian foreign policy, Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian officially represented the Republic of Armenia at the 28 August inauguration ceremony of Turkish President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Although I have been sometimes critical of the Armenian foreign minister in the past, I both welcome and defend his decision to attend the Turkish presidential inauguration. The presence of the Armenian foreign minister was significant, despite the fact that Turkey has yet to establish diplomatic relations or open the closed border with Armenia” – said Richard Giragosian, the Regional Studies Center (RSC) director.

In his words, the Armenian decision to attend the Turkish presidential inauguration was a welcome decision, for the following five reasons: as Turkey’s first-ever direct election of a president, this inauguration was especially significant and offered Armenia a unique opportunity to join the official representatives of over 90 countries in a demonstration of the significance of Armenia on the world stage of politics and diplomacy, while highlighting the imperative of the coming 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide; by accepting the Turkish invitation to attend the inauguration, Armenia was further able to maintain political pressure on Turkey, bolstering an already strong Armenian position in the eyes of the international community, which recognizes that all expectations and burdens are still exclusively limited to the Turkish side; Armenian Foreign Minister Nalbandian was able to demonstrate, once again, that the Republic of Armenia consistently seeks enhanced dialogue and diplomatic engagement, and reflecting its own unique position in the region, poses no offensive threat to any of its neighbors; in the face of Turkish hesitation, Armenia was able to reconfirm its readiness for normal relations with Turkey, displaying a more mature foreign policy.

“And in the wake of Turkish President Erdogan irresponsible and irreprehensible anti-Armenian comments during the political campaign, Armenia demonstrated a morally superior position; and in the face of the rather hypocritical criticism by Armenia’s so-called opposition political parties, in this instance, the Armenian government held firm to a more principled foreign policy of statesmanship that only embarrassed its critics by revealing the paucity and poverty of policy alternatives pursued by the so-called opposition in Armenia”, – added the political scientist.